Katrina Merriweather and the Bearcats completed the sweep at Fifth Third Arena after an electric come from behind victory as they defeated Colorado 65-59.

The Bearcats were led by senior point guard Tineya Hylton, who finished with a career high 27 points on 8-13 shooting, (10-12 FT). The senior point guard stepped up huge for Cincinnati in a time they needed it the most, as 18 of her 27 points came in the fourth quarter.

Cincinnati forward Jillian Hayes, fouled out with eight minutes to play after racking up 12 second half points. That moment forward, is when Cincinnati dug deep and found a way led by Hylton and company.

From Katrina Merriweather

"We are thrilled to come away with a victory. Despite it being a year ago and a different team we struggled to compete with them last year. Now a year later to be here and compete in the last two minutes is great, A lot of that behind Tineya, who was so calm and compressed over the final two minutes. Pleased we were able to get the job down the stretch without Jillian. That was a real team win, and I am very pleased with how our team responded."

The Rundown.

Cincinnati started things off with a layup from Tineya Hylton. However, the Buffaloes then went on an 11 unanswered to take an 11-2 lead with 4:46 left in the first quarter. Cincinnati's offense was struggling to get anything to fall early as they were held without a bucket for nearly five minutes after going 0 for 7 following the made bucket from Hylton.

However, things quickly changed for Cincinnati following the break as defense quickly turned into offense. Cincinnati was able to force consecutive ten second violations and went on to create a 6-0 run of their own. Hylton capped off a three-point play, which was followed quickly after with a made three from freshman point guard Chloe Mann to make this an 11-8 game with 2:45 left in the first quarter.

Mann continued to make an impact early on both ends of the court as she scored nine points in the first quarter. The true freshman gave the Bearcats an early spark that they desperately needed after being down 11-2 in the opening minutes. Mann gave the Bearcats a 16-15 lead after burying here third triple of the night as the shot clock expired.

Cincinnati regained the lead following a layup from Ramiyah Bryd as the Bearcats were in a back-and-forth defensive battle here in the second quarter. The Buffaloes held the Bearcats without a field goal for the final 5:13 of the second quarter. Meanwhile Colorado on the other hand went on to score eight straights as they took a 26-21 lead into the half.

Colorado extended their lead to 10 with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter following a Lior Garzon made three. However, Cincinnati responded right back as Reagan Jackson came down and buried the midrange jumper to cut the lead to single digits. Kenzie Sanders then extended the Buffaloes lead back to 11 after a corner three made this a 44-33 game with 2:20 left in the third quarter.

Jillian Hayes made this a four-point game after grabbing a huge offensive rebound following the Alliance Ndiba miss. The veteran forward then fouled out with eight minutes to go after really finding her groove after ten second half points. That would be a huge for Cincinnati as trailed 45-44 when Hayes fouled out.

Tineya Hylton would slash through the paint and create a huge three-point play to give Cincinnati their first lead of the game since the opening minute. A 10-1 run in favor of the Bearcats and that simply changed everything down the final stretch in favor of the Bearcats. Ayianna Johnson responded right away for the Buffaloes though on the other end to regain the lead with seven minutes to play,

Frida Foremann extended Colorado's lead to four after a huge three from the top of the key. Cincinnati would respond after a huge offensive rebound from A'Riel Jackson who kicked it to Hylton for the three to make this a 53-50 game with 4:13 left. Hylton found her way to the bucket to make this a one-point game.

The Bearcats went on a 9-0 run to take a 59-50 lead following eight straight from Hylton as the veteran point guard has simply taken over this game. A steal on the defensive end turned into a great runout and finish in traffic to give Cincinnati a 60-55 lead with 1:16 remaining.

Cincinnati finished the game on a 17-4 run as they complete the comeback victory over Colorado. A game that was a back-and-forth battle, with Cincinnati trailing by as much as 12 points in this contest, they dug deep and found a way to get the job done here at home.

Up Next

The Bearcats travel to Arizona for the week as they prepare for their matchup vs Arizona State on Wednesday with tip-off slated for 8pm.